From: John De Armond
Subject: Noise/sleeping solutions
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 19:53:48 EDT
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel,alt.rv

George Lowry wrote:
 
> I find all this topic very interesting - Especially since many that
> complain about the noise are the same ones that bitch about those of
> us that stop at a Wal-Mart, Elks Club, K-Mart, or even a rest area for
> some ZZZZs instead of coming in late at night and leaving early in the
> morning.  I know that you would love hearing my diesel (Cummins 903
> with a 5 inch smoke pipe) when you are trying to sleep.  Even though I
> idle thru the area, it is still a bit loud.  If I should have to step
> on it to overcome a grade of any kind, it does bark a bit.  Yet,  I am
> chastised for trying to show courtesy and staying out of the
> campgrounds at these times.

Excellent point, George.  Of course, you really don't give a s**t
what anyone thinks about your overnighting a WallyWorld, do you?  I
sure don't!


> Please note that we do use campgrounds when at destinations, trying to
> arrive early and leave late so as to not disturb others.....  Yet
> there are still some on this group that bitch....  I can only hope
> that you are the recipient of someone that is not as considerate as we
> try to be...

The problem is, there will always be miserable, humor-deprived,
scornful people who will bitch over just about anything.  This group
is an accurate reflection of life in that regard.  A wild'n'crazy
friend of mine has a perfect expression for that.  She says that
they're "puckered", implying assholes and wrapped way too tight.

Anyway, I've found myself becoming increasingly more sensitive to
noise as I get older, probably the result of having suffered a
couple of burglaries in the past.  However, rather than becoming
like the crotchety old farts like those of my memory in my youth
when we camped, I have looked for and found a solution to solves MY
problem without interfering with other people's fun.  The solution
is earplugs.  Not the horrible foam industrial plugs but the waxy
medical types sold in drug stores as survival tools for mates of
snorers.  These waxy plugs are extremely soft and mold closely to
the ear canal when at body temperature and present essentially no
sensation of being there once warmed.  They can be used several
times before getting grody and are fairly cheap.  These plugs have
the added benefit of letting me get a better night's sleep in places
like wallyworld parking lots and CGs bordering on the interstate. 
Under these circumstances, most normal noises don't completely wake
me but merely disturb my deep sleep.

Ear plugs are consumables so I'm interested in other possible
solutions.  Pink noise masking is a proven technology used in many
office buildings to mask ambient noises so that, for example, one
cannot easily overhear conversations in adjacent cubbyholes. I've
been looking (so far unsuccessfully) for a consumer-grade pink noise
masker that works as well as the commercial units.  The successful
unit will allow one to simply turn the unit on and experience quiet.
The successful unit may also contain active noise canceling.

Yet another solution is the wide selection of ambient noise CDs that
reproduce the noise of streams, forest sounds, gentle rain and the
like.  My massage therapist turned me on to these.  Not only do they
mask outside noise, they also help relax. A little listening is
necessary to find the type of noise is most pleasing.  I like the
rain storms :-)  I haven't implemented this solution yet because a)
it requires a CD player which I have yet to install and b) even on
continuous repeat, there is a lull when the CD has to rewind to the
beginning.  This lull, even if it is quite outside, is disturbing if
you're not completely asleep.  I think that ripping the CD to MP3
format and putting on the laptop, perhaps concatenating several
copies together to make the run time longer, will do the trick. 
Winamp repeats almost seamlessly.

Whatever the solution, the important thing is to take care of your
own problems instead of trying to force others to comply with your
weirdness.

John

From: John De Armond
Subject: Re: Noise/sleeping solutions
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 01:45:43 EDT
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel

Steve Wolf wrote:
> 
> Is it really worth paying that much for pink noise?  I've used an AM radio
> with static (white noise).  It doesn't bother me to have it on in the
> background (amateur radio cured that).  It's a heck of a lot cheaper.

YES YES YES.  A properly designed pink noise generator is
inaudible.  You simply can't tell it's there until it is turned
off.  Then the difference is stark.

When I worked for D&B, we moved our programming team from one office
to another.  We had a central pink noise generator that fed the PA
system.  When I was ready to move the generator to the new machine
room, I pulled the plug and was stunned.  The whole personality of
the room changed.  Every little chair squeak, every keystroke, every
whisper could be heard all over the room.  Everyone still in the
room stood at once to look over the cubicle tops to see what
happened.  I knew we had the unit but since it ran on the machine
room's UPS, it had never been off.  It would have been impossible to
get any work done had we not had it.  OTOH, one could NOT hear the
system when it was on.  It was as if a blanket had been tossed over
all the cubicles.  The quiet just sorta envelops.

If you put a 3 db/octave low pass filter on the output of FM
interstation hiss, it will approximate the pink noise generator. 
Purpose-built units use a digital IC pink noise generator.

Hey Steve,  How does that AM radio work when a storm approaches or
the guy in the next RV turns on his electric razor? :-)